Lobbying intensifies as MEPs debate data rules

A frenzied lobbying campaign by global corporations, industry groups and privacy campaigners is under way in the European Parliament as MEPs consider a European-wide law to govern data protection.

The proposed regulation aims to close the gaps between divergent national interpretations of EU privacy rules; oblige companies to seek the consent of users to certain types of online tracking; give users more control over their data; and empower national regulators to impose fines of millions of euros on non-compliant companies.

Proposed a year ago by Viviane Reding, the commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, the regulation is among the most contentious pieces of legislation to come before the European Parliament in its current five-year term and is the subject of intense lobbying on both sides of the Atlantic.

“I think this is the biggest lobbying that Brussels has ever seen and probably bigger than anything in the United States as well,” said Joe McNamee, the director of European Digital Rights, a privacy campaign group.

The Parliament’s industry committee was voting on its version of the legislation as European Voice went to press late yesterday (20 February). The committee’s version, drafted by centre-right Irish MEP Seán Kelly, seeks to make the regulation more business-friendly, for example by expanding exemptions for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) foreseen in the Commission’s proposal.

Since the proposal could affect practically any business, it has been the subject of intense lobbying. “I had an open door to anybody who wanted to meet me,” Kelly said, citing “all types of stakeholders from the big companies like Google and Facebook to SMEs to consumer groups”. The MEP said that he had held 200 meetings with interested parties, leading to more than 900 proposed changes.

American corporations with operations in Europe in principle welcome the replacement of 27 national regimes with a single set of rules across the EU. But they also fear that tougher privacy rules in Europe will make transatlantic commerce more difficult, a view that is apparently shared by the Obama administration. Civil-liberties campaigners have protested against the corporate lobbying. On 4 February, they wrote to the United States administration to protest against “an unprecedented lobbying campaign to limit the protections that European law would provide” from both the US government and American corporations.

Alexander Alvaro, a German Liberal MEP who follows the legislation on behalf of the Liberals and Democrats group, conceded that lobbying was intense but said there was nothing extraordinary about it. He accused privacy campaigners of misrepresenting the issue at the core of the draft legislation – how to reconcile companies’ legitimate desire for clear rules that do not impose an undue burden on business with strengthened protection of the privacy of individuals. “The appearance of an antagonism between industry and civil society is being created to suggest that our civil rights are being sold off,” Alvaro said. “That does not correspond to reality. Emotions are being whipped up.”

McNamee said: “The problem is that the regulation is so complex and so long that the discussion has been swamped by concerns that have been dreamt up by lobbyists who have not actually read the proposal.”

He said that this “white noise” had drowned out legitimate concerns from industry.

The Parliament’s lead committee on the proposed legislation is the committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs. It will adopt its position on 24-25 April and is supposed to take into account the views of the other committees. In addition to the opinion of the industry committee, being voted last night, the committee on internal market and consumer protection adopted its opinion on 23 January, the committee on employment and social affairs votes today (21 February) and the committee on legal affairs on 18-19 March.